Friends Fiduciary Joins Climate Action 100+

Friends Fiduciary is proud to announce that on the second anniversary of the Paris Agreement, we joined 224 other investors with $26.3 trillion in assets under management in committing to engage with the 100 largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters. Corporate action is essential to keep warming under 2 degrees Celsius and prevent potentially catastrophic changes in temperature, especially as the United States government has withdrawn its participation.

Although Friends Fiduciary screens out many heavy emitters, as active shareholders we are able to engage those companies we do hold, witnessing to the Quaker values of simplicity and stewardship in the process. This initiative builds on the advocacy we are already engaged in with 41 companies on a wide variety of issues, ranging from methane emissions to deforestation to fair chance hiring to forced labor in supply chains. The Climate Action 100+ focuses on engaging those companies who contribute the most to climate change—and whose profitability is most at risk in a low-carbon future.

There is a strong business case for climate risk mitigation. Investors including the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, have emphasized that companies should take potential risks and opportunities seriously. The Climate Action 100+ goes a step further and calls for investors to leverage our influence to spur companies to action, with three major focus areas. When engaging, we will first call for companies to implement oversight of climate risk at the board level, ensuring that action and awareness is driven from the very top. The second step will be to curb greenhouse gas emissions, using goals that are in line with keeping global warming under 2 degrees Celsius. The third focus area is disclosure—investors need to know how companies are approaching climate risk, how they envision it potentially impacting their business model, and how they will take advantage of potential opportunities.